People in wheelchairs often encounter the problem of coming into contact with plumbing fixtures under sinks, in particular P-shaped traps and water supply valves. These P-shaped traps may carry scalding hot waste water draining from the sink, and the hot water supply valve similarly carries potentially scalding hot water. As a result, those persons in wheelchairs may inadvertently and perhaps unknowingly suffer burns, bruises or scrapes on their legs as a result of such undesirable and often unavoidable contact with the P-shaped trap and the water supply valves when they wheel themselves under the sink to wash.
In recognition of this problem, various governmental agencies have enacted regulations governing protection of those in wheelchairs from these problems of scalding and scraping.
Prior art devices have addressed this problem by encapsulating the P-shaped trap and the hot and cold water supply valves with insulation in order to guard against such scalding and scraping. One such protective device for the P-shaped trap is a foam urethane or sponge rubber hood type insulation that may by glued or taped in place.
Another prior art device which addresses the instant problems is a conventional two piece sculpted PVC P-shaped trap cover fitting. These prior art covers can be trimmed at the reducing end to fit various sizes and are packed with a fiberglass blanket or soft urethane foam blanket and installed with screws, tape, pop rivets and/or adhesive. These prior art covers are commercially available from Buckaroos Inc., Indianapolis, Ind., and may have adhered therein ring spacer pieces of foamed plastic pipe insulation as a means of insulation support.
In addition, a one piece molded foamed plastic prior art cover is marketed by Mesch and Associates under the trade name SKAL+GARD. The foamed plastic cover is fitted around the P-shaped trap or water supply valve via a longitudinal split in the material, and is joined after installation by twist-ties which are embedded therein. The versatility of this product is limited since it is not able to fit anything other than the exact or substantially similar shape of the part it is intended to cover. Since there have been a great many variations of P-shaped traps and water supply valves installed in the past that do not conform to the SKAL+GARD shape, the installer may have to cut and improvise this part into an unsightly multiple glued and taped cover.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,862,528 discloses an insulated trap cover which is of unitary construction and comprises a trough-shaped bottom section integrally formed with a three-sided vertical section to substantially cover the trap.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,054,513 discloses a protective system for a P-shaped trap comprised of three separate fitted pieces with longitudinal slits thereon for facile installation.
The prior art devices cited above are disadvantageous since they do not provide a universal protective cover which can be quickly and readily adapted to fit onto a variety of different sized P-shaped traps and water supply valves and which can accommodate those P-shaped traps and water supply valves which have been installed at a variety of angles.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide protective covers for encapsulating P-shaped traps and water supply valves in order to protect the wheelchair bound sink user from inadvertent and undesirable burns, bruises and scrapes.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide protective covers for encapsulating P-shaped traps and water supply valves which are of universal construction, and which will thereby fit onto a variety of differently sized P-shaped traps and water supply valves without alteration.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide protective covers for encapsulating P-shaped traps and water supply valves which are of universal construction, and which will thereby fit without alteration onto a variety of P-shaped traps and water supply valves which have been installed at various angles.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide protective covers for encapsulating P-shaped traps and water supply valves which act to deflect away from the pipes the legs of a wheelchair-bound user in order to eliminate undesirable burns and scrapes.